The sea stretched endlessly in every direction, a vast sheet of deep blue broken only by the wake of the Going Merry as she cut forward with steady confidence.
The ship no longer felt borrowed.
She felt claimed.
Her sails snapped proudly in the wind, the massive jolly roger emblazoned across them glaring down at the ocean — a demonic hannya mask wearing a straw hat, lightning replacing the crossed bones beneath. It was aggressive, theatrical, unmistakable.
Luffy liked that.
At the stern, where the ship's movement was smoothest, Luffy reclined on a throne that should not exist.
Thunderclouds layered beneath him, dense and dark at the base, lighter at the edges, faint arcs of electricity crawling across their surface like living veins. The clouds adjusted constantly, responding to his weight, his posture, his mood.
A glass of whiskey rested loosely in his right hand.
He wasn't drunk.
He never was.
Alcohol, to Luffy, was not escape. It was ritual. A way to slow the world just enough to watch it clearly.
His eyes tracked the deck.
Zoro stood near the mainmast, shirt discarded, muscles flexing rhythmically as he trained. He wasn't sparring wildly. Every movement was precise. Controlled. Cuts repeated again and again, blades whispering through the air with lethal promise.
Usopp hovered near the starboard cannons, pretending not to notice how close he stood to Luffy's shadow. He wiped sweat from his palms, checked the angle, adjusted the fuse length, then checked it again.
Nami lay behind Luffy on a deck chair, one leg crossed over the other, a navigation manual resting open in her hands. To anyone watching, she was relaxed.
Luffy knew better.
Her eyes flicked up at every shift in the wind, every creak of wood, every subtle change in the sea's color.
A crew, he thought, wasn't about strength.
It was about rhythm.
"Usopp."
Usopp nearly launched himself into the ocean.
"Yes! Captain! Great Captain! Supreme Captain—!"
"Relax," Luffy said dryly. "You ready?"
Usopp swallowed, then forced a grin. "Always."
Luffy rose from the thunder throne. The clouds dissolved upward, dispersing into harmless wisps that vanished into the sky.
He walked to the railing and pointed.
A massive stone outcropping jutted from the water ahead, scarred by centuries of waves.
"That."
Usopp followed his finger.
His grin faltered.
"…That's pretty far."
"So?" Luffy replied.
Usopp's hands trembled — just a little — as he adjusted the cannon. He could feel everyone watching, even when they pretended not to.
He breathed in.
Breathed out.
Pulled the fuse.
The cannon roared.
The recoil thundered through the deck.
The cannonball streaked across the air and struck the rock dead center.
The outcropping shattered violently, stone exploding outward in a storm of debris before collapsing into the sea.
Silence followed.
Then—
"Good," Luffy said.
Not loud. Not impressed.
Satisfied.
Usopp froze.
Then his chest puffed up like a balloon. "Of course it was good! Did you expect anything less from—"
"Don't let it go to your head," Nami said without looking up.
Zoro smirked faintly.
Luffy didn't smile, but his gaze lingered on Usopp a second longer than necessary.
Yasopp.
Talent without confidence was a loaded gun pointed inward.
That could be fixed.
Luffy returned to the center of the deck and reached into a thundercloud that formed briefly at his side. Four heavy cloth bags dropped onto the planks with a dull thud.
"Bounty split," he said.
Nami's book hit the deck instantly.
"Explain," she said, already reaching.
"Kuro's bounty was sixteen million," Luffy continued. "Four people who fought him. Four shares."
He handed them out calmly.
Zoro accepted his, weighed it once, then handed it back.
"Hold onto it," he said. "I don't need it yet."
Usopp hesitated — then did the same.
Nami hugged hers to her chest like a dragon hoarding gold.
Luffy didn't comment.
Instead, his voice sharpened.
"Listen carefully."
They did.
"This," he said, gesturing to the bounty money, "is rare."
Nami frowned.
"Treasure is shared," Luffy continued. "Loot. Gold. Supplies. All of it."
Usopp nodded enthusiastically.
"But bounties," Luffy said, eyes narrowing slightly, "belong to the one who earns them."
Silence.
Zoro accepted it immediately.
Usopp nodded after a moment.
Nami scowled — but didn't argue.
Rules were only unfair when they were unclear.
Luffy turned away.
"I'm hungry."
The shout came shortly after.
Angry. Desperate.
"Get off my ship!"
Wood splintered as a sword slammed into the railing.
Luffy's eye twitched.
In the next instant, he stood in front of the attacker and drove him into the cabin wall with enough force to rattle the entire ship.
Zoro leaned over the railing.
"…Johnny?"
The man froze.
"Z-Zoro aniki!?"
The reunion was loud, emotional, and chaotic — until Johnny collapsed near the side of the ship.
Yosaku lay pale and shaking in a tiny boat tied alongside.
Luffy listened.
Weakness. Dizziness. Fainting.
He sighed.
"Usopp," he said calmly. "Oranges."
"What?"
"Now."
Juice was forced down Yosaku's throat minutes later.
"Scurvy," Nami said flatly.
Luffy nodded. "A sailor who doesn't eat plants is just a corpse waiting for paperwork."
Johnny bowed so hard his forehead hit the deck.
Yosaku tried to celebrate.
Then fainted again.
Luffy pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Put him inside."
As the chaos settled, Luffy returned to the stern.
Nami approached, wind tugging at her hair.
"We're close," she said. "Less than an hour."
Luffy looked ahead.
A dark silhouette floated on the horizon.
A restaurant.
A battlefield.
A recruitment ground.
He smiled.
"Good."
Thunder murmured softly overhead, as if the sky itself agreed.